Focus: news of interest about creation and evolution

Textbooks ‘lying to students’

In a critique of biology textbooks used in the USA, a Discovery Institute scientist,
Dr Jonathan Wells, has claimed that they use obsolete photographs, captions and
texts. Bluntly, he says that ‘Most biology textbooks are simply lying to students
about the evidence for evolution.’

Dr Wells cites seven ‘icons of evolution’ that are still portrayed in
textbooks long after evolutionists themselves have questioned the errors in them,
e.g. peppered moths, Haeckel’s embryos, Darwin’s finches, and claiming
that a 1953 laboratory experiment almost created life from lifeless chemicals.

Dr Wells said that all the peppered moth pictures were staged; the embryo drawings
were faked; the famous finches (which did not in any case influence Darwin’s
thinking) showed only temporary variation with no gain of information; the 1953
experiment produced nothing more than impure, dilute amino acids—and evolutionists
have come no closer at all to proving abiogenesis (see Life from
life...or not? p. 36 this issue) since then. ‘Textbooks have failed
to change with the times,’ said Dr Wells.

In response, one teacher commented that she had heard the moth criticism but still
finds the example useful. ‘That is not one of the proofs of evolution,’
she said. ‘It’s an example teachers use for students.’

Opals from bacteria?

Traditionally, most geologists thought that opals were produced over long periods
of time. But new evidence suggests that soil-dwelling bacteria could have produced
precious opals in a matter of months. Opals have been found at the edge of fossil
bacteria (similar to bacteria living in soil today), and it is thought that the
organic acids secreted by the bacteria (during their lifetime of a few months) reacted
with feldspar minerals to produce opal.

Other geologists, however, while agreeing that opals could have formed over short
periods of time, believe that physical processes were primarily responsible.

New Scientist, July 15, 2000, p. 7.

The geologists seem unaware of opal expert Dr Len Cram’s success in growing
opal within a few months see Creating Opals
Creation17(1):14–17).

Polar ‘mums’ defy theory

Currently popular evolutionary theories suggest that animals would be most likely
to ‘adopt’ or protect youngsters they are closely related to, such as
nephews and nieces. A gene programming an organism to help close relatives would
be more likely to flourish, as these are more likely than non-relatives to share
a copy of such a gene.

However, a genetic study of polar bears has revealed that cubs recently adopted
in the wild were ‘completely unrelated’ to their adoptive mothers. The
researchers, trying to reconcile these findings with evolutionary theory, suggest
that polar bear mothers ‘accidentally’ adopt other cubs because, being
solitary, their ability to identify their own cubs might not be very well developed.

New Scientist, May 20, 2000, p. 13.

Examples of such altruism defy evolutionists’ expectations. However, the theory
of evolution is so malleable that almost any observations can be explained away.
(See also ‘Nannies badger evolutionists’
Creation 22(3):6.)

Blue humpback

Different species of whale are interbreeding, scientists have revealed. The offspring
of a blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) and a humpback whale (Megaptera
novaeangliae) has been seen near the South Pacific island of Tahiti.

The director of marine mammal research in French Polynesia said that in two-and-a-half
months the strange whale calf has grown twice as large as a normal calf would have
done.

Though classified as different species, even different genera, their interbreeding
shows that they are descended from the same original created ‘kind’
and are really a single species. See our earlier article on the wholphin (a false
killer whale/dolphin cross) in Ligers and wholphins? What next?
Creation22(3):28–33.

Ichthyosaur’s last supper

A well-preserved fossil of an ichthyosaur , 4.5 metres (15
feet) long, has been discovered in a Yorkshire (UK) quarry.

The fossil is in such good condition that paleontologists could
work out what its last meal was: an extinct squid-like creature.

The Sunday Times (UK), August 6, 2000, p. 5.

The fact that the stomach contents are preserved shows the
ichthyosaur died and was buried quickly—it did not take millions of years—consistent
with events occurring during the global Flood of Noah’s day. See picture of the ichthyosaur fossilized while giving birth
on p. 10/11 this issue. Interestingly, the largest ichthyosaur found, in British
Columbia in 1992, was 23 metres long—nearly five times this one.

China says: ‘Evolution is a religion’

Following the announcement late last year of the discovery of the ‘earliest
fossil fish’ in Cambrian strata (see ‘Slow fish in
China’, Creation22(3):38–39), scientists
in China have attacked the Darwinian theory of evolution.

They argue that neo-Darwinism cannot explain the sudden appearance of all the major
animal groups in the fossil record—the so-called ‘Cambrian explosion’.

Incredibly, some Chinese officials contend that the theory of evolution is so politically
charged in the West that researchers are reluctant to admit shortcomings for fear
of giving support to those who believe the biblical account of creation.

Pointing out that ‘Evolution is facing an extremely harsh challenge,’
the Communist Party’s Guang Ming Daily mocked Darwinian orthodoxy
by declaring that ‘In the beginning, Darwinian evolution was a scientific
theory … . In fact, evolution eventually changed into a religion.’

The Chinese researchers say that the evidence supports a post-Cambrian history of
life that runs opposite to standard evolutionary tree diagrams, and suggest
that biologists need to come up with entirely new mechanisms to explain the ‘Cambrian
explosion’ enigma.

The Boston Globe, May 30, 2000, p. E1.

Wollemi pine trees ‘bafflingly identical’

In 1994, the discovery of living Wollemi pines in a poorly
accessible remote canyon near Sydney, Australia, caused a sensation.

Six years of research since then has failed to find any differences in DNA between
the 40 known adult Wollemi pine trees in two stands, two kilometres apart, leaving
evolutionists ‘completely baffled’.

According to evolutionary theory, genetic variation is the ‘fuel of evolution’,
and therefore low genetic variability is viewed as ‘a fast track to extinction’.

Defying this ‘rule’, Wollemi pine trees are remarkably strong, healthy
and producing viable seeds and seedlings. All seedlings tested so far have identical
DNA to the parent trees.

What has most stunned geneticists is that these two stands of Wollemi pine (a third
has just been discovered as we go to press) are likely to have been completely independent
of each other since ‘the end of the last ice age’—yet both stands
share the same genetic code.

Overall, this evidence is not what long-age believers would expect or prefer.

Shell’s secret strength

The secret to the remarkable strength of mollusc shells—which are composed
of the brittle mineral aragonite—reportedly lies in their intricate structure.

In giant pink queen conch shells (Strombus gigas), layers of tiny platelets
are arranged at right angles to each other and held together by a protein ‘glue’.
This structure makes shells over a thousand times tougher than pure aragonite crystals,
because the platelets dissipate stress into many tiny cracks, instead of one.

The researchers suggest this discovery could inspire the development of new ceramic
composites which are both lightweight and tough.

New Scientist, July 1, 2000, p. 19.

Building blocks bones

British architects have suggested that giant arches, bridges and walls made of artificial
bone could be easier to design and build than conventional structures. They have
developed a mathematical model showing how to create bone-like structures in whatever
shape is required. These would be much stronger than normal constructions, which
often have large numbers of components of different mechanical properties, plagued
by weak points requiring special reinforcing.

The idea was apparently inspired by the remarkable capacity of bones and skeletons
to function under large loads and stresses. ‘There’s no doubt the skeleton
is more efficient than any man-made structure is going to be,’ observed one
researcher.

New Scientist, September 16, 2000, p. 7.

No surprise, considering who designed it in the first place.

No ‘Flat Earth Society’ anywhere

High profile American atheist Ed Kagin mockingly refers on his website to the ‘Flat
Earth Society’ as if it were a real organisation—presumably comprised
mostly of creationists.

This common tactic prompted creationist Dr David Menton to write to Mr Kagin, ‘Like
you, I find it difficult to believe that any rational adult alive today would believe
that the Earth is flat, much less that there would be an official "Society"
to actively promote such a view. Strangely, the Christians I have talked to (even
fundamentalists!) claim to know nothing of the actual existence of such a society
and even appear to be completely unsympathetic to the view that the earth is flat.
So far I have not even been able to identify a single creationist who is either
aware of the "Society" or believes the earth is flat.’

Dr Menton goes on to point out that virtually all mention of the ‘Flat Earth
Society’ over several years has come from evolutionists, who use the term
‘flat-earther’ as a synonym for ‘creationist’. Requesting
phone number, address, email, website details of the genuine ‘Flat Earth Society’
from Mr Kagin, Dr Menton concludes ‘Wouldn’t it be ironic if it should
turn out that only "free-thinkers" and "skeptics" believe in
the existence of a "Flat Earth Society"?’ [At the time of going
to press, Mr Kagin had not yet responded—Ed.]

Ancient star maps

Star charts have been discovered painted on the walls of caves in France and Spain.
Many well-known constellations of the northern hemisphere, including the Pleiades
(Seven Sisters), Summer Triangle, Northern Crown and part of Taurus the Bull, are
represented.

This discovery of humanity’s early interest in the stars has led researchers
to conclude that our ancestors were much more sophisticated than many had thought.

BBC News, <news.bbc.co.uk>, August 11, 2000.

Cavemen were simply people who lived in caves. They were not ‘subhuman primitives’.

Two-tone penguins

It has long been known that each of the two branches of the voice-box of birds can
produce sound independently—but in most birds this did not seem to serve any
purpose, inviting speculation as to its possible function in the past.

However, a purpose for such a ‘dual voice’ has recently been discovered
in emperor penguins, which do not make nests and rely on sound to find their mates
and chicks in huge colonies. The distinctive ‘beat’ created by combining
their two voices is ideal for locating one another in a crowd, because it carries
well around obstacles such as other penguins.

New Scientist, June 17, 2000, p. 23.

Evolutionists’ riddle in the rocks

Geologists continue to debate just how and when the dinosaurs became extinct. Many
agree with the premise that asteroid impact—65 million years ago by the orthodox
reckoning—caused environmental damage on a global scale. But some are arguing
that this alone cannot account for the extinction of the dinosaurs, or ‘the
other four large extinction events of the past 450 million years of Earth’s
history.’

Instead, they propose massive and prolonged volcanic activity as a more likely cause,
claiming the fossil evidence fits this explanation better than the asteroid theory.

However, so inconclusive is the debate, that one observer was quoted thus: ‘[P]erhaps
the very difficulty of geology is like that of politics, the "art of the possible",
or should it be the "science of the perhaps"?’

Nature, March 9, 2000, pp. 122–123.

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